God will use your calling, your purpose, and even your suffering to guide you toward His will. Join us in Colossians 1:24-29 as we dive deeper into God’s divine plan for each of us and continue to unpack Colossians in our series The Connection That Counts.
One day, a parishioner dropped by my office. He worked driving one of those massive trucks that uses its large vacuum tubes to keep sewer lines working effectively. Sitting down after a hard day in a comfortable chair in front of my desk, he said, “Hey, Pastor. I have a question for you. Really, what do you do all day?” The implication and tone of the question couldn’t be missed. He thought my job was cushy and that I didn’t do much real, hard work. I acquainted him in straight order concerning the life of a busy, committed shepherd.
Funny how he eventually left the church in a few months. His reason? I’ll quote him, “My family is not staying here any longer because no one can learn how to follow Jesus by listening to your teaching.” He also didn’t flinch at sowing dissension when he left by letting others know how he felt.
This is the method some use to undermine a shepherd’s work. I’m sure it was the method the Gnostics used at the church in Colossae. Why do I say this? I made this observation based on what Paul says in chapter 1, verses 24-29.
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. 25 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. 29 For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
Can’t you just hear them say things like, “Don’t listen to Paul, listen to us. His version of Jesus is not the real version. We have the corner on that truth; hence, there is no way you can effectively know Jesus unless you know the Jesus we teach about.”
Scholars have debated for years why Paul would pause in the middle of his polemic against Gnostic infiltrators to discuss his role as a shepherd before picking up the polemic again in chapter 2. As a fellow shepherd, I think the answer is quite clear. Paul had either received verbal flak from these “enlightened,” “educated” folks to diminish his teaching, or he had wisely anticipated it, having faced it before (as in the case of the Corinthian church).
With these words, Paul defends his ministry here to validate it so that the saints in Colossae would listen to him rather than to the clever false teachers. Remember, the church members had never seen or heard Paul. Their familiarity with him was tied directly to their pastor, Epaphras (Col. 1:8), whom Paul had deeply influenced while he taught for several years in the coastal city of Ephesus. This personal distance made him, therefore, an easy target for those nefarious Gnostics who sought to hamstring his rebuttal to their philosophical system by attacking him and his ministry. Paul’s pause here in these five verses is understandable. He shared about his ministry to solidify allegiances, build loyalty, and establish himself as a trusted voice amid doctrinal uncertainty. Granted, much of what he says here applies to pastors, but that doesn’t mean there is not something here for lay church leaders and saints in general. So, I hope you listen and learn about what I call:
A Preacher’s Path
Paul describes this path in four ways:
He Possesses A Perspective on God-Designed Suffering (Col. 1:24)
Since God is sovereign, everything we face in life, whether triumphs or tragedies, is part of His lofty plan for our lives. Nothing occurs by chance in His cosmos. Everything is designed to achieve temporal, spiritual, and eternal purposes. Regarding this, Jeremiah the prophet asserted this truth:
37 Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth? (Lam. 3)
God’s sovereignty is always exercised in infinite wisdom and love to shape and hone us, through all types of weather, into the spiritual people He desires. H. W. Beecher echoes this truth:
We are always in the forge, or on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.
This statement is born out of what we know about life:
- It is the crushed grape that yields the wine.
- Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
At the timberline where the storms strike with the most fury, the sturdiest trees are found (Hudson Taylor).
Paul understood these truths because he had studied the life of Christ, and he had lived a devoted life to His Lord. Because of this, he had enjoyed countless moments of great joy and had also faced much divinely ordered adversity. It comes with the turf as saints, and it is really applicable to one who desires to lead saints.
So, with verse 24, Paul gets raw and real as a shepherd. Believe me, this level of sharing would not be heard from the false teachers. They played their cards close to their chests so they wouldn’t be exposed as charlatans. That was not Paul’s method.
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. (Col. 1)
The opening word, now, or nun (Νῦν ), is emphatic in the Greek text. So, as Paul pauses, he draws a line in the proverbial sand and says, “At this current moment, while I’m imprisoned on trumped-up charges and chained to a Roman soldier, I choose to look at this adversity as spiritual gain.” He didn’t say his arrest and imprisonment were unfair because he knew God, in His sovereignty, arranged this for purposes beyond Paul’s pay grade. Hence, he had a choice to make: Have a negative, bitter, angry attitude or a positive, peaceful, and joyful one. He chose the latter because He knew God was working even in this.
Why did Paul suffer?
- His religious teaching ran counter to that of the culture.
- His teaching challenged the inadequacies of false religious systems.
- His teaching was exclusive and intolerant of other views.
- His teaching was an either/or proposition.
- His teaching didn’t allow man’s works to acquire favor with God.
- His teaching believed in the literal death and resurrection of the God-man, Jesus. Sadducees did not believe in the concept of resurrection (Matt. 22:23-33; Acts 23:8). Paul used this in his defense before Herod Agrippa (Acts 26:8ff)
- His religious teaching wasn’t seen as a fulfillment of Judaism, but a deconstruction of it.
Anyone who desires to be a shepherd will face opposition because they represent God, and God’s ways certainly run counter to the wicked ways of the world. Paul was no exception, and neither am I, or any other man of God called to this position. If you want to preach and teach, prepare for temporal rough seas, followed by moments of glassy seas of blessings as lives are changed and the gospel advances.
Before we leave these instructive words of Paul, permit me to make a few additional observations.
One, as a leader, you have a choice of how you will respond to suffering for Christ. Paul chose to rejoice in it. Why? Because he knew God was behind it to achieve purposes for Paul’s spiritual maturation. So, when you are opposed to teaching truth, pointing out sin, or standing up for morality, will you exhibit a positive or a negative demeanor? Choose the former because that is the sign of a maturing disciple of Christ.
Two, your suffering as a leader is for the benefit of those under your care. Think about it. Had Paul not suffered under this particular false imprisonment, we would not have the book of Colossians. Further, had he not suffered in this fashion, the Church would not possess a flesh-and-blood example of how to handle adversity, especially when that adversity is faith-related.
Three, your suffering will continue insofar as the Lord seeks to help you identify and learn from His many sufferings. I think this is what Paul is getting at in this cryptic statement at the end of this verse:
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. (Col. 1)
Paul is not saying that Jesus’s afflictions were not complete, far from it. He was verbally harassed, betrayed by close friends, mocked, called nasty names, ridiculed, misrepresented, envied, argued with, threatened, misunderstood, and finally beaten and crucified. Had His afflictions not been full, His ability to redeem us would have been truncated. So, what is Paul saying here? I think he is getting real by admitting he still had a ways to go before experiencing all the afflictions the sovereign Lord had in store for him as a pastor. He had to know, from prior experience, that facing off against the likes of the Gnostics wouldn’t be met with open arms, but with clenched fists and vehement, condescending arguments. Hence, he was merely honest here. As long as he had breath to speak up and out for Christ, he knew that the Lord would permit more adversity to come his way to further shape and hone him into His holy image. What a perspective. What a mature saint.
A second description of a preacher’s path is presented in verses 25 through 27.
He Possesses A Perspective On God-Declared Selection (Col. 1:25-27)
Paul didn’t choose Christ. Christ chose him. Paul didn’t plan to be a shepherd and a missionary for Jesus. On the contrary, he did everything in his Pharisaical power to silence any Jew who would dare claim the name of Jesus as their Messiah. The Lord had other plans for ol’ pernicious, pugnacious, and prideful Paul.
25 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, (Col. 1)
Paul was a religious zealot who lived as a persecutor, not a pastor. Before he became a believer in Jesus, he believed he was on a mission from God, seeking to stamp out the fire of faith in Jesus Christ. That fire turned on him and caused him to bow in faith before the risen Lord and true Messiah. Paul was never the same again. God sovereignly chose him to be a minister. The Greek word is diakonos (διάκονος), from which we get our word deacon. It speaks of one who is an intermediary, a courier, or an agent representing another. As such, it was used in the Greek world to denote politicians. They were supposed to represent the people. Paul’s choice of this word is, therefore, logical, because what is a shepherd of the Lord’s Church but His representative and servant to execute His desire and goals?
I can relate. My original goals, as a young man, were to be an NT Greek and an OT Hebrew professor. I worked hard academically to accomplish those goals. Still, my son’s special needs were one factor in my decision to become a minister as I prepared for Ph.D. studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. I had my plans, but God had other plans, so I, like Paul, followed His leadership, not mine. I wanted to impact students for Christ, while God wanted me to impact laypeople for Him.
How does the minister impact the people under his care? By preaching the word of God. Saints cannot grow if they do not know . . .the Word, that is. Biblical metaphors describe the worth of the Word:
- It is honey to the spiritual taste buds (Psalm 19:9-10)
- It is a lamp to the dark path of life (Psalm 119:105, 130)
- It is milk to a spiritual baby (1 Cor. 3:1-3)
- It is a mirror that shows you the real spiritual you (James 1:23-25)
- It is the meat that feeds the mature spiritual person (Heb. 5:11-14)
- It is a powerful sword you use to teach truth and counter falsity (Eph. 6:17)
No wonder, then, Paul gave this commission to Pastor Timothy:
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2 Tim. 4)
The pastor is called to preach the word. This means he is an ardent lifelong student of the Word. This means he constantly works to hone his exegetical and interpretive skills. This means he doesn’t preach his favorite hobby horse, but what God’s word teaches. This means he doesn’t bow to culture, but to the Lord of Word, meaning he’s not afraid to teach the unadulterated truth. This means he’s not afraid to say what needs saying, so unbelievers see their sin and need of the Savior, and believers learn how to grow up in the faith. This means he won’t think saints will get bored with the Word, so he must constantly shift and teach short, new topics. On the contrary, it means he won’t be afraid to dive headlong into Exodus or the gospel of John.
The late and great G. Campbell Morgan (1863-1945) was known in his day as the ‘prince of expositors.’ When asked about the secret of his ability to teach the Word so well, he replied once, “Word-hard work-and again, work.” He was in his study every morning at 6 a.m. and told no one to bother him until noon. When he prepared to preach/teach a book, he read it forty to fifty times to get the book into his mind and heart. That’s how you do it. You pour your life into the Word, and then the Word pours out of you. This takes commitment and endurance, but it is what pays spiritual dividends.
Speaking with a young pastor in California one day, I asked him what he was preaching. He smiled and happily declared, “I just finished the book of Hebrews.” “Oh,” I replied, “that’s a meaty book, but a good one to preach and teach. How long was your study?” His answer shocked me, “Six weeks,” he said, beaming with his accomplishment. When he quit smiling, he asked me, “How would you approach Hebrews?” My reply shocked him, “Well, six weeks would have been my introduction.”
When God calls you to be His shepherd, He calls you to know His Word like nothing else you’ve ever studied because you will be helping others to understand and live out its timeless truths. Sure, you are called to do many things as a shepherd, but none of them should eclipse this part of your calling.
What exactly are you teaching from the Word? Paul’s answer is clear:
26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col. 1)
While you are to teach all of God’s Word, from Genesis to Revelation, and to bring illumination to all the great doctrines of the Word, from Harmartiology (the doctrine of sin) to Eschatology (the doctrine of end-times), you are never to forget to emphasize the mystery of how God moved from working specifically with Israel in the Old Testament, to how He moved temporarily to working with this new entity called the Church when Israel rejected Him.
Throughout the Old Testament, God progressively made it clear to His chosen people, Israel, that He had a heart to save the Gentiles as well. • Abraham would be the father of many nations (Gen. 12).
- Rahab the harlot was a Gentile forerunner of the Messiah.
- Ruth, a Moabite, was also a forerunner of the Messiah
- Solomon reminded Israel at the dedication of the Temple that the door was always to be open to Gentiles (1 Kings 8:41-43)
- Many Psalms depict Gentiles worshipping God (Psa. 86:9; 102:15-17)
- Isaiah prophesied that divine revelation and salvation would come to Gentiles (Isa. 2:16-6; 42:6; 49:6)
- Isaiah also informed Israel/Jews that their God-appointed mission was to bring justice (Isa. 42:1) and light to the nations (Isa. 49:6).
- Zephaniah spoke of a time when the Gentiles would come and worship God (Zeph. 3:9-10)
When the Messiah, Jesus, came in NT times, it became clear that Israel was His chosen people, but that didn’t mean He didn’t have a heart for the Gentiles.
- Simeon, in the NT, prophesied that the baby Jesus would be a light to the Gentiles (Luke 2:28-32)
- There are multiple accounts in the Gospels of Gentiles receiving God’s blessing (Luke 4:25-27)
- Jesus ministered quite often to Gentiles (Mark 5:1-20; Matt. 8:5-13, 28-34; 15:27-28; Luke 7:2-20; 8:26-39).
- Christ’s parting words before the formation of the Church were for the good news of the gospel to be given to all nations (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 11:18).
- Jew and Gentile were ultimately made to be unified as one people of God in the form of the Church (Gal. 3:26-28; Eph. 2:11-13).
Thus, as the door of prophetic revelation opened slowly over the centuries, one thing was certain: God had a special place in his heart for Israel and for Gentiles. That door was flung wide open at Pentecost!
Ostensibly, this means there IS room at the cross for you, no matter who you are. The Holy Spirit coming to the Gentilic house of Cornelius in Acts 10:45; 11:1, 18; 15:7 showed that God had, in fact, empowered Gentiles to be part of the Church, His new people. Paul rightfully argues in Romans 9-11 that God is not finished with His redemptive and kingdom program with Israel; however, what Israel didn’t grasp in the OT was that God wanted to use them as a channel of blessing to the Gentiles. They became a prideful bucket of that blessing, so God had to temporarily set them aside while He built the Church, composed of Jew and Gentile.
This was a mystery OT saints did not see coming, and Paul’s entire ministry was devoted to clarifying its meaning, until God shifted prophetic gears. We can, and should, continue to explain this great mystery so that the Church is populated with new saints from all the nations. That is to be a key focus of our calling as pastors/teachers, and it is here at BCC. Of course, in a church plagued by Gnostics who constantly talked about their mysterious religion and how it was THE esoteric, secret belief system to know God, Paul’s words became a hammer to their brittle beliefs. The true mystery was how God lovingly moved from selecting Jews, the least of all the people on the planet (Deut. 7), to be His people, to how over thousands of years He orchestrated events so that pagan Gentiles from a plethora of false belief systems could find and secure true, lasting redemption and salvation from their sins.
And those who know the Christ of this mystery all share in what Paul calls “the hope of glory.” Because we know the truth, God-man Savior and Lord, we possess an inexorable hope that we will be in glory and see the Lord’s glory.
- Israel saw God’s glory, enshrouded in a dense cloud, hovering over the tabernacle.
- Solomon in his day saw the glory of God descend upon the new Temple (1 Kings 8:10).
- Isaiah prophesied of the day when Jew and Gentile believers would see God’s glory:
60:1 “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. . .18 Violence will not be heard again in your land, nor devastation or destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls salvation, and your gates praise. 19 No longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give you light; but you will have the LORD for an everlasting light, and your God for your glory. 20 Your sun will no longer set, nor will your moon wane; For you will have the LORD for an everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will be over. (Isa. 60)
Who wouldn’t want to see THIS? Will you be there?
Yes, as believers, we all possess the inner “hope of glory,” that is, the hope of seeing God in all of His glory, while also enjoying all the benefits of heaven, which merely reflects His brilliance (Rev. 21). Ah, this makes me want to sing:
When all my labors and trials are over,
And I am safe on that beautiful shore,
Just to be near the dear Lord I adore,
Will through the ages be glory for me.
O that will be glory for me,
Glory for me, glory for me,
When by His grace I shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me.
When, by the gift of His infinite grace,
I am accorded in heaven a place,
Just to be there and to look on His face,
Will through the ages be glory for me.
O that will be glory for me,
Glory for me, glory for me,
When by His grace I shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me.
Friends will be there I have loved long ago;
Joy like a river around me will flow;
Yet just a smile from my Savior, I know,
Will through the ages be glory for me.
O that will be glory for me,
Glory for me, glory for me,
When by His grace I shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me.
Charles H. Gabriel (1900)
A third description of a preacher’s path denotes the finer points of his divine job description:
He Possesses A Perspective on God-Declared Purpose (Col. 1:28)
What is the pastor to be about? Here is Paul’s answer:
28 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. (Col. 1)
Put differently, we are to talk about Jesus. He is supposed to be our focus. We are to teach people about His deity and humanity, His thoughts about end-times, His method for dealing with tough situations and people, His miracles and how they prove His divinity, and, of course, His redemptive work on the cross and His power to raise Himself from the grave on the third day. Yes, all that we do is supposed to go back to Jesus, because the Word is all about Jesus. So, if we talk about the bread in the Tabernacle, we emphasize how Jesus is the Bread of Life. If we refer to the burnt offering in Leviticus 1 to cover the sins of sinners, we call Christ THE burnt offering. If we talk about commands to live differently, we talk about how Jesus is the Lord of those commands, and as we fulfill them, we please Him. And so on. Jesus, therefore, is what we are to proclaim because He is supreme.
As we proclaim Him, we are to be careful to do two additional things: One, we don’t back off from admonishing every man, unbeliever and believer alike. The Greek word, nouthetountes (νουθετοῦντες), speaks of offering a clear warning to someone. To the unbeliever, we are not to be timid in warning them of the eternal consequences of their sin. To the believer, we are not to be timid in calling them out when we see sin in the lives or in the camp. Two, why do we do this? We do this because our main God-given goal is to make sure all saints mature, or grow up as disciples of Jesus. I’m not here to entertain you, although there are times when sermons can be entertaining. I’m not here to make you feel good, although there are times when the Word does uplift and encourage. I’m not here to rubber-stamp what your university training taught you to believe about truth. I’m here to introduce you to the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to call you to constantly grow up spiritually. That’s a heavy, sobering calling, but one I, along with all the other pastors and leaders in this body, take seriously. So, how are you doing? Are you growing up in the faith?
How do you know when you are growing in the faith?
- You are in the Word without prompting.
- You are convicted by sin, and you confess it.
- You see truths in your study that you need to work on.
- You put off your old sinful ways, while you put on the character that pleases God.
- You seek the Spirit’s filling or control for each new day (Eph. 5:18).
- You are in worship more often than not (Heb. 10:24-25).
- You are serving somewhere in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12).
- You have an active prayer life, especially in private.
So, I ask you again: Are you growing?
The last portrait of a preacher is tucked away in the final verse of this Pauline parenthesis:
He Possesses A Perspective on God-Designed Power (Col. 1:29)
Doing God’s work in God’s way is never easy, and it is always demanding. Really, it is a 24-hour-a-day job. After being at the hospital all day with my dying mother, I walked into our kitchen, placed my wallet and keys on the counter, and then my phone alerted me to a text: Our brother, Robert Sanders, had just died, and his wife, Amy, was at the emergency room. I picked up my wallet and keys, got back in my car, and headed over to be with her. That is just part of the pastor’s work and labor.
Here is how Paul puts it:
29 For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. (Col. 1)
Labor, or kopio (κοπιῶ), is the Greek word for wearisome toil. It’s the type of job that calls for all of your strength and then some. Working on longshoreman’s doc in college in the desert heat of Southern California taught me what this word meant. Now I know what it means in a church setting. It means you put the time and effort into doing ministry with excellence. If that means getting up at 5 a.m. to read and study, then you do it. If it means you spend several hours a week answering a wide variety of emails, you do it. If it means you read two books a week to stay on top of things, you do it. If it means you open your door to people with needs, you do so and make time for them. God calls His effective shepherds to work, not to float into glory.
Striving is from the Greek agonizomenos (ἀγωνίζομαι). Sound familiar? It should. It’s from the word to agonize. In Greek times, it was used to describe how athletes trained for the Olympic Games. Agony best describes what they went through to prepare, and it is a good word for effective ministry. When you are called to produce quality, creative, and thoughtful studies every week, it can be agonizing. When you have to write a funeral for a child, it can be agonizing. When you offer counsel to a husband and wife who are at odds with each other, it can be agonizing. When someone is struggling with a disease and feels hopeless, it can be agonizing to come up with the right things to say. When a tragedy strikes a family, and you meet them at their home in the middle of the night, it can be, well, agonizing. And since all of these things can be like running a marathon, you will quickly realize you only have so much mental, emotional, and spiritual strength. That’s when you, like Paul, call for backup.
We don’t toil and agonize as we seek to help people come to know Jesus and learn how to walk with Him on our own power. No. We get our inner power to push forward with great joy and peace from Him, from Jesus. Knowing Him is like having Nitrous oxide for your engine. Once injected, it increases the combustion rate and provides a sudden burst of power, up to 150 more horsepower. That’s like Jesus. Just when you feel like you’ve reached your limit as a spiritual leader, His power arrives. I felt this a few weeks ago when I did my mother’s funeral service. I was spent, weary, and emotional, but I knew I had to honor her as her pastor and son. How would I push forward? Where would I find the strength? My strength came from Him.
Thank you, Lord, for the preacher’s path. Thank you, Lord, for the preachers in our own body who understand this path. Thank you, Lord, for a body that is growing in the faith because it submits to biblical, God-ordained leadership.
